Psyclon Nine

Psyclon Nine

Psyclon Nine is a musical group formed in 2000 in the San Francisco Bay Area. While their early efforts are generally categorized as aggrotech, their more recent material has incorporated a disparate set of influences, notably black metal, creating a more unique and inventive output.

History

Early days

Psyclon Nine began in 2000 when Nero Bellum (then using the name Marshall Carnage) and Josef Heresy began working on a guitar-oriented industrial project called "Defkon Sodomy", influenced by bands like KMFDM and Ministry. As the project became more cohesive, it veered strongly in to the realm of aggrotech, influenced heavily by albums like Suicide Commando's Mindstrip. They played two small but successful local shows. The first was opening for Castro Valley act CompostFilter. The second show (and first using the name "Psyclon Nine") was a small festival headlined by See Colin Slash, whose frontman, Eric Gottesman, was promptly recruited as the band's third member.

Divine Infekt

After building up a strong reputation locally with a home-recorded three-song demo and a number of notoriously violent concerts, Nero met NoiTekk head Marco Gruhn at a San Francisco Grendel show, and persuaded him to sign the band. The band's first album, Divine Infekt was recorded shortly thereafter, produced and engineered by Da5id Din of Informatik, another EBM band on the local scene. The title track was remixed by the popular European aggrotech act Tactical Sekt. The album was released in 2003 and was well received by clubgoers and aggrotech enthusiasts, although many critics considered it derivative.

The band toured lightly in the U.S. and Europe in support of the album, playing with bands including Dismantled, Nocturne, Feindflug, Aslan Faction, Grendel, and American industrial rock figurehead Martin Atkins on his spoken word tour.

INRI

Several tracks for the follow-up album had already been in the band's live rotation for some time when writing began in earnest. Those tracks were "Lamb of God", "Nothing Left", "Rape this World", "Faith:Disease", and an early, very different version of "The Feeble Mind". By the time the album began to take shape, the band had signed in the United States with Metropolis Records.

After several months writing at home, the band had produced a complete album's worth of demo material. Most of the songs focused on Christianity, some actively hostile towards it, others discussing its history and influence, and the title track became "INRI". The demo version of "Lamb of God" appears on the Noitekk compilation United I. Psyclon returned to Da5id Din's studio for mixing, and the completed album was released in April 2005 on Metropolis in the U.S. and Noitekk in Europe.

The new album was far more diverse than Divine Infekt, and includes several songs with heavy emphasis on metal-infused guitar. "Hymn to the Angels' Descent" is perhaps the most distinctive song on the album; fast and heavy guitars, dramatic orchestral breaks, and hard electronic sounds are all prominent. Other tracks range from dancey "Terror EBM" to a slow, dirge-like rendition "B'rosh Hashana" of a traditional Jewish prayer.

Psyclon made several major live appearances following the album release, including several dates opening for alternative act Mindless Self Indulgence and a headlining slot at the German Wave-Gotik-Treffen festival. The MSI shows especially helped solidify the band's younger fanbase, which had been expanding from the traditional industrial music crowd and out in to the larger alternative music population.

Crwn Thy Frnicatr

In 2006, Psyclon Nine released their third full-length album, entitled Crwn Thy Frnicatr. Taking another step away from their terror EBM roots, the album features black metal-styled guitars prominently, and frequently compliments them with blast beat kick drums and high-pitched, shrieking vocals typical of black metal. Most tracks on the album feature extremely dense electronic atmospheres and textures, largely inspired by the techniques of Gary Zon on the first two albums by Dismantled.

The music on Crwn Thy Frnicatr was written almost exclusively by Nero, with only occasional contributions by Eric Gottesman, who departed from the band's official lineup during the writing of the album to focus on other projects. Some lyrics were written in conjunction with founding member Josef Heresy, but mainly handled by Nero.

Controversy

In interviews, the band has stated that they are frequently accused of Nazism, partly because their name is derived from Zyklon B, an insecticide best known for its use by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust. In response to the accusations, Nero stated that "people who think we're nazis [sic] are fucking idiots and I don't want them listening to my music". To charges of supposed antisemitism, the band also pointed out that former member Eric Gottesman is Jewish and that their song "Requiem for the Christian Era" features lyrics from a Hebrew prayer.

Discography

• Divine Infekt (2003)
• INRI (2005)
• Crwn Thy Frnicatr (2006)

Band members

Current members

• Nero Bellum − vocals (2000−present)
• Filip Abbey (AbbeyNex) − bass/guitar (2005−2007 as drummer, 2007−present as bassist)
• Daniel Fox − drums (2007−present)
• Sevin - Synth (2006-present)

Former members

• Josef Heresy− guitar/electronics
• Eric Gottesman − electronics/synth/bass guitar
• Rotny Ford − guitar/synth

Member information

• After a long series of differences and fights with Nero, Josef left the band in 2008.
• Due to Little Dan not being able to make it for the summer 2007 Europe tour, Eric Gottesman rejoined the band as the bass player for some of the shows and Abby went back to drums.

External links

• Official website
• Biography on Metropolis Records (US label)
• NoiTekk (European label)
• Psyclon Nine Livejournal
• Psyclon Nine @ VampireFreaks
• Psyclon Nine on Myspace

• Psyclon Nine discography at MusicBrainz
• Psyclon Nine discography at Discogs